Circuit control device



Beam Q QW@ April 24, l945 l. D. NORTON r-:rAL

CIRCUIT CONTROL DEVICE Filed July 27, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 .h SWWOMS 5 mMw/ww ma vdL NHT n #Ww A e. i I o E E@ 5, E M 4 v.\ N 6 4 .J1 I I/|\4 2 a5 x 4 Q f .d 0 3 4 ua 3 2 Z 2.2 8H 3 d V y 593mm H00??? April 24, 1945. L D. NORTON ETAL CIRCUIT CONTROL DEVICE Filed July 2v, 194:5

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l 8 Patented Apr. 24, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CIRCUIT CONTROL DEVICE Leland D. Norton, Fairfield, and Victor L.

Frykman, Bridgeport, Conn., assignors to Dictaphone Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application July 27, 1943, Serial No. 496,288

(Cl. 20G-18) Claims.

` ating the clutch while the motor circuit is closed.

Thus, by lifting the transmitter from its supporting hook, the motor switch is closed and the operator actuates the clutch by thumb pressure at will. When the transmitter is returned to its supporting hook, the motor circuit is opened.

One object of the present invention has been to provide a foot operated circuit control device whereby the operator may exercise the same measure of control and yet retain the free use of both hands, as for holding or arranging papers, or the like. 'Ihis result is fully realized in apparatus Where the transmitter is built in or supported otherwise than by the operators hand; and the motor and clutch devices are controlled by foot actuated means.

A further object of the invention has been to provide an improved foot control for dictating machines or the like wherein the motor control means cooperates directly with the electromagnetic clutch actuating means so that the Imotor circuit is opened to stop operation of the machine by actuating one instrumentality and is automatically closed by normal operating movement of a different instrumentality which is also employed to actuate the clutch at will while the motor circuit remains closed.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the description of a preferred embodiment thereof as set forth in the following specification and as illustrated in the appended drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan view with portions broken away to expose interiorly located parts;

Figure 2, a central vertical section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 showing the relative positions oi the parts when the motor switch is open and the dictating machine is not in use;

Figure 3, a view similar to Figure 2 showing the relative positions of the parts when the motor switch is closed and the electromagnetic circuit control switch can be actuated at will;

Figure 4, a fragmentary view partly in vertical section showing details of the clutch control switch and means by which it is operatively connected to the actuating devices; and

Figure 5, a diagram illustrating a foot operated switch control device according to the present invention operatively positioned in a known arrangement of mandrel, motor, and clutch in a dictating machine.

The embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings includes la cylindrical box within which the switches and portions of the operating parts are mounted. In use, the box rests on the floor and the switches therein are connected to the motor and electro-magnetic clutch operating circuits of a dictating machine by suitable conductors carried in a cable I.

Motor control switch As seen in Figure 5, the motor circuit includes a switch having a movable lcontact 2 mounted on a plunger 3 which is biased toward circuit closing position by a spring 4, one end of which extends into the open end of a hollow cap 5. Said movable contact 2 cooperates with fixed terminals 6 arranged in spaced relation in the motor circuit and in position to be engaged and disengaged by said movable contact 2.

Said contact 2 and terminals 6 are mounted in a hollow block I of insulating material, which, with the plunger 3 and cap 5, is supported on a bracket 8 secured to the bottom or base plate 9. Means hereinafter described are employed to close the motor circuit by moving plunger 3 and cap 5 from the position shown in Figure 2 to that shown in Figure 3; and other means hereinafter described are employed to restore said plunger to its open circuit position, Figure 2.

Clutch control switch As seen in Figure 5, the motor I0 is connected to operate a record carrying mandrel II through a slidable clutch piece I2 actuated by a lever I3. Said lever includes an armature I4 between the opposed poles of electromagnets I5 and I6 which are energized by current carried by shunts in the circuit of motor I0. Desirable results in operation are obtained where the mercoid or equivalent switch I'I is employed to precondition the coil of magnet I5 when armature I I is moved toward magnet I6, as shown in Figure 5 and to precondition the coil of magnet I6 when said armature is moved toward magnet I5.

In the case where positive movement is employed both to engage and to disengage the clutch and this movement is effected by opposed electromagnets as I5, I8, a switch device for controlling the circuits of said magnets will preferably be such as to alternately energize said circuits by the operation of a common actuating part.

A preferred type of switch for this purpose comprises a brush I8, Figure l, connected in both clutch circuits by a common lead I9. Said brush I8 is mounted on a bracket 20 supported on an insulator block 2|; and its bifurcated free end bears yieldingly against the outer or lateral face of a brush contact piece 22 mounted on a rotatable carrier or commutator 23.

A brush 24 secured to insulator block 2| is mounted with its free end bearing on a peripheral portion of said commutator 23, said brush 24 being electrically connected with a conductor 25 and the coil of magnet I5.

Another brush 26 secured to insulator block 2| is mounted with its free end bearing on another peripheral portion of said commutator 23, said brush 26 being electrically connected with a conductor 21 and the coil of magnet I6.

The brush contact 22 consists of the face portion thereof constantly engaged by brush I8 and a plurality of spaced flat bars 28 extending therefrom transversely across peripheral portions of commutator 23 so that when one of said brushes 24, 26 engages one of said bars, the other brush will bear against a flat portion, as 29, of the insulating material of the commutator itself. Said peripheral flat portions 29 are exposed between said fiat bars 28.

Provision is made for rotating said commutator 23 step by step and so that, at any of its predetermined angular positions, one or the other of the circuits represented by the conductors 25, 21 respectively will be closed through the brush contact 22 and the connecting parts above described. For this purpose a portion of said commutator 23 is provided with peripherally disposed ratchet teeth 30, cooperating with a spring biased pawl 3| pivoted near the free end of an arm 32. Said arm 32 is pivotally mounted on a bracket 33 supported on base plate 9 and with its free end biased upwardly by a spring 34. Thus, when the free end of arm 32 is moved downwardly, pawl 3| engaging ratchet teeth 30 is moved in a direction to rotate said commutator 23. If the resulting movement is to the extent of one tooth, the circuit previously closed will be opened and the previously open circuit will be closed. If the movement is to the extent of two teeth, the closed circuit will remain closed and the open circuit will remain open.

Switch actuating devices In the foot control apparatus as shown in the drawings, switch actuating mechanism is arranged between said motor and said clutch operating switches respectively and includes a centrally placed hollow post 35 having an annular shoulder 36 and a vertical slot 31 opening toward the cap 5 of the motor switch. A sleeve 38 having a vertical slot 39 and an annular peripheral flange is slidably mounted on post 35 with said slot 39 in register with slot 31 of l rid post. A spring 4I is interposed between shoulder 36 and an inwardly extending flange 42 of said sleeve 38.

At its lower end, slot 39 opens through the bottom edge of sleeve 38 and, at its top end, extends through a portion of said annular flange 40. A switch actuating lever 43 is pivoted at 44 to swing in slot 39 and with its free end extending into and through a portion of slot 31 adjacent to a shoulder or abutment formed by the top I end wall of said slot.

With the parts in the relative positions as shown in Figure 2, lever 43 has been thrust outwardly against cap 5 to open the motor circuit switch. Spring 4I biases sleeve 38 upwardly and thus holds a portion of lever 43 in yielding frictional engagement with shoulder 45 which maintains said lever and the motor switch in the open position shown. However, when sleeve 38 is pushed down, lever 43 disengages said shoulder 45; and after its free end passes an instrumentality to be described, said lever swings inwardly under pressure of spring 4; and the parts come to rest with the motor switch closed, as shown in Figure 3.

Lever 43 is restored to the open circuit position shown in Figure 2 by operation of a plunger 45 slidably mounted in said hollow post 35 and provided with an enlarged lower end portion or head 4l. A spring 48 bearing against the foot piece 49 biases said plunger toward its up position, as seen in Figure 3, wherein the rounded bottom end of head 41 comes just above the inner free end or' lever 43. It will be apparent that when plunger 46 is pushed down by suitable pressure on said foot piece 49, the rounded end of head 41 will displace lever 43 outwardly to the position shown in Figure 2 and the plunger will normally remain in down position with its head portion disposed opposite the inner end of said lever.

Thus, by pushing down on sleeve 38 lever 43 is moved to close the motor circuit; and by pushing down on plunger 46, said lever 43 is moved back to open said motor circuit.

Inasmuch as the motor circuit switch is also, in effect, a main switch which controls the circuits of both magnets I5 and I6, provision is made to actuate the switches of said magnet circuits and thus to engage and disengage the clutch only when the motor switch is in closed condition, i. e., with the parts as seen in Figure 3. Means are also provided whereby the same foot actuated member will be moved initially to close the motor circuit and then may be moved repeatedly to alternately open and close said clutch control circuits, as desired, without disturbing the motor circuit.

As shown in the drawings, the annular peripheral ilange 40 of sleeve 38, extends across the path of vertical movement of lever 32. An intermediate portion of the upper edge of said lever bears yieldingly against a portion of the under surface of said flange. Thus, when sleeve 38 is pushed down, it swings lever 32 a corresponding extent and moves pawl 3| to actuate the carrier 23 as above described.

To conveniently push down sleeve 38 by foot pressure, a foot piece in the form of an inverted dished plate 50 is arranged in operative relation to said sleeve 38. Said plate 58 is of circular contour and has a relatively heavy rounded rim 5| and a central opening 52. Concentric with said opening is an annular plate supporting member 53 having a hub like central portion resting on a spacer 54 which loosely embraces an upper end portion of post 35 and in turn rests on the upper end surface of sleeve 38. Said supporting member 53 is secured to said plate 50 and is provided with a peripheral flange 55 which bears yieldingly against under portions of the top wall of the casing adjacent to the central opening therein to limit the extent of upward movement of sleeve 38 under pressure of spring 4I. Thus, when a portion of the plate 50 is pressed down by the operators foot from any angle, said plate is rocked or tilted so that the hub of supporting member 53 depresses spacer 54 and sleeve 38.

This initial movement of said plate 50 and sleeve 38 brings the parts to the position shown in Figure 3, i. e., to close the motor or main circuit. Thereafter plate 50 may be pressed down repeatedly as desired to rotate the carrier and thus energize the magnets I and i6 one after the other. Thus with the motor or main circuit closed, the operator is enabled to start and stop rotation of mandrel Il at will. When dictation is completed, the main circuit and hence both clutch circuits are opened through lever 43 by pressing down on the control foot piece 49 which remains down until released in the manner above indicated.

The above described apparatus provides a rugged and dependable mechanism by which operation of the mandrel of a dictating machine can be effectively controlled by foot pressure alone so that the operators hands are left free. It may be actuated from any angle and hence requires no special positioning in relation to the operators foot.

As many possible embodiments may be made of the above invention without departing from the scope thereof, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

We claim:

l. Circuit control device comprising a first switch having a movable contact normally biased into one of two operative positions, a second switch including a brush, a commutator, and contact means on said commutator and movable therewith into and out of circuit closing engagement with said brush, a reciprocative switch actuating sleeve, means positioned to be operatively engaged by said sleeve to actuate said commutator when said sleeve is moved, a lever pivotally mounted on said sleeve to swing toward and away from said first switch and having a. portion positioned to actuate the movable contact of said first switch to the other of said positions upon movement of said sleeve in one direction and to release the said movable contact for movement into the other of said positions upon movement of said sleeve in the opposite direction, and a fixed abutment positioned in the path of movement of said sleeve adapted to cooperate with said lever to effect and permit the said switch operative movements of said movable contact.

2. Circuit control device comprising a first switch having a movable contact normally biased toward circuit closing condition, a second switch including a. brush, a commutator, and contact means on said commutator and movable therewith into and out of circuit closing engagement switch to open position upon movement of said sleeve in one diiection and to release the said movable contact for movement into closed position upon movement of said sleeve in the opposite direction, and a fixed abutment positioned in the path of movement of said sleeve adapted to cooperate with said lever to eiiect and permit the said switch opening and closing movements of said movable contact.

3. Circuit control device comprising a rst switch having a spring pressed movable contact member normally biased toward closed position, a second switch having a brush contact, a rotatable commutator member having a plurality of spaced contacts movable with rotation thereof into and out of circuit closing engagement with said brush contact, a reciprocatable switch actuating member, means interposed between said actuating member and said second switch to effect rotation of said commutator member, a lever movable with said actuating member and pivotally mounted thereon, said lever being yieldingly engaged by the movable contact member of said first switch and movable thereby in one direction to retracted position to close said rst switch, a spring pressed plunger movable to engage said levei when the latter is in retracted position and to move the same to extended position thereby also moving said movable contact member to open said first switch, and means xed relatively to said switch actuating member and arranged to frictionally engage and hold said lever in said extended position.

4. Circuit control device comprising a main switch, a spring biasing said switch toward closed condition, a lever operatively arranged to be moved in one direction against said spring to open said switch and to be moved in the opposite direction by said spring when said switch is closed, means for moving said lever to switch closing position, a second switch movable to and from circuit closing position, means interposed in the path of movement of said lever moving means and operatively connected with said second switch to actuate the latter when said main switch is in closed condition.

5. Switch control device comprising a support having a xed stop, a reciprocatable carrier mounted on said support, a lever pivotally mounted on said carrier and movable therewith toward and from said stop, said carrier being biased in a direction to engage said lever with said fixed stop, a spring biased plunger having a portion movable past said fixed stop, said plunger being biased toward an end position, and said lever being biased in a direction to maintain one portion thereof in position to engage said fixed stop when said carrier is in its said end position and to maintain another portion thereof in position to engage said plunger, means for actuating said carrier to release the lever from said ixed stop, and means for moving the lever into engagement with said plunger.

LELAND D. NORTON. VICTOR L. FRYKMAN. 

